Farmers across the state celebrated by pouring milk over the Chief Minister's portrait on Wednesday, thanking him for extending the scheme despite financial constraints and expressing eternal gratitude for adopting farmer-friendly welfare programmes.
Prior to Rythu Bandhu, the farmers claimed that they were forced to rely on private money lenders to meet agriculture costs at higher interest rates and fall into debt traps, but that with Rythu Bandhu's assistance, they were able to meet costs to cultivate crops on their own.
Furthermore, they claimed that farming has become a profitable occupation in Telangana as a result of Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, and 24-hour free power, while also demanding that such pro-farmer schemes be implemented across the country, which would only be possible if the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) was elected to power at the Centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. They also urged farmers in other states to support the BRS in order to help the country and farmers develop.
Despite financial constraints, the CM recently directed the finance department to release Rs 7,776 crore for Rythu Bandhu for the rabi season, which will be credited in the accounts every day until January 15 to cover the state's 70.54 lakh farmers, who own 1.53 crore acres of agricultural land.
This is the tenth Rythu Bandhu payment to farmers since the scheme's announcement in May 2018 to extend Rs 10,000 per acre per year for the kharif and rabi seasons combined at a rate of Rs 5,000 per acre for each season.
Since its inception in 2018, the government has spent Rs 65,560 crore on Rythu Bandhu. Farmers with up to one acre of land were covered on the first day. This will be increased to one acre per day, up to a total of 20 acres, and all farmers, regardless of land size, will be covered by January 15.
This year, 65 lakh farmers received Rs 7,434 crore during the kharif season, and an additional 5 lakh farmers will receive the benefit during the ongoing rabi season, with officials identifying 70.54 lakh farmers as eligible for Rythu Bandhu.
